In “The Age of Bronze”, Lord Byron weaponized his biting satire against the Congress of Verona, mocking European rulers for masking their domestic failures behind grand global alliances. Condemning a system of “blood, sweat and tear-wrung millions where the country is bankrupt and the courtier fed,” his verses exposed the profound hollowness of states that flaunt foreign treaties to obscure abysmal governance at home.

Our own history reads as if Byron’s words came true. Since 1947, we have engaged in a relentless quest for salvation abroad to avoid fixes at home. From early dependence on SEATO and CENTO, to RCD and SAARC, and finally to the grand bet on CPEC, each initiative has been merely a tourniquet for a profusely bleeding domestic core.

Today, that outward engagement continues in new forms, including the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement. Its significance lies in the opportunities that deeper strategic cooperation can create, but the ability to convert those opportunities into lasting gains rests on institutions at home. Alliances can reinforce national capacity, but they cannot substitute for statecraft or resolve the governance challenges that ultimately determine their value.

The costs of these governance failures are ultimately borne at home. A telling example: IPPs attracted substantial private and foreign capital, yet flawed contracts saddled consumers with crippling capacity payments. Between July 2023 and May 2024, Rs1.56 trillion was paid to the IPPs for electricity that was never generated. This staggering sum is just one measure of policy failure and of how our failures at home deepen our dependence abroad.

Neelum-Jhelum’s tunnel failure turned a major hydropower project into a costly liability; Gwadar’s much-heralded port has struggled to turn infrastructure into sustained commercial activity. Partnerships and ambition have never been in short supply; governance has.

CPEC brings the broader lesson into sharp relief. Its........

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